Roasted Belly Pork

After washing and cleaning the pork, dry it thoroughly with a kitchen towel. Rub the meat side with five spice powder and some salt. Then, sit the pork in a tray rind side up in the fridge uncovered overnight. The longer you leave it in the fridge, e.g/ 2 days, the better as the cold air in the fridge will dry out the rind.

Preheat the oven to 180C and fill a tray underneath the oven rack with water. The pork will sit above on the oven rack. Doing this will stop the pork fat dripping down from burning at the bottom of the oven as well as the water evaporating will keep the pork meat mosit.

Make about 4-6 horizontal slits in the pork, depending on the size of the pork. Halve all garlic cloves. Then, insert half a clove of garlic into each slit pushing them in deep to stop them from falling out while roasting.

Carefully, sprinkle the top of the rind of pork with a layer of salt making sure that it is covered evenly. Then, place the pork onto the oven rack once the oven has reached the temperature required. Set the timer for 1 hour.

Continue to bake until the salt hardened and forms a crust on top of the rind. Be sure to check the water in the tray and add more if required.

After the hour, remove the salt crust from the pork and discard. Increase the oven temperature to 240C and place the pork back into the oven to be roasted for another 45 minutes.

Remove the pork once time is up and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving immediately.